It’s very difficult to argue that college football players shouldn’t receive a proper portion of the revenue their sport generates. There is the spirit of amateurism, and then there is the very real billions of dollars flowing into college coffers.

The scholarships awarded to college football athletes are a pittance. According to ESPN’s Rod Gilmore, a full football scholarship at Alabama gets you $15,000 to cover tuition and expenses for a year. Alabama coach Nick Saban makes $4 million annually.

The NCAA has shown no sign of deciding that its athletes deserve a piece. Only a handful will go on to have professional football careers. Those who are willing to turn pro straight out of high school are frustrated by the NFL draft rules, which say players have to have completed three years of school. Meanwhile, colleges make money off their student-athletes hand over fist: gate, television rights, merchandising, money for new or upgraded football stadiums, you name it. This has to stop.

Sam Bradford: Oklahoma QB – Not only has Bradford been the top freshman quarterback in the nation this season, he’s also ranked among the best quarterbacks overall. Bradford has a QB rating of 179.4 after completing 70 percent of his passes for 2,520 yards with 28 touchdowns and only six interceptions. It’s scary to think that he has a couple more years to get even better.

DeMarco Murray: Oklahoma RB – The Sooners are loaded with freshman talent with both Bradford and Murray. Before dislocating his kneecap last week, the freshman running back had already rushed for 764 yards on 127 carries with 13 touchdowns. Imagine how good his stats might be if he wasn’t splitting carries with senior Allen Patrick.

Knowshon Moreno: Georgia RB – There’s no telling where the Bulldogs would be right now without Moreno. The freshman has rushed for an astounding 1,228 yards and 12 touchdowns on 222 carries so far this season. Moreno has been breaking records at Georgia all season long and he might not be finished yet.

Michael Crabtree: Texas Tech WR – Speaking of record breakers, nobody has been tearing down freshman records like Crabtree has this season. Crabtree has been putting up huge numbers and leads all of college football with 125 receptions for 1,861 yards and 21 touchdowns.

The top teams in college football continue to stumble. But the Kansas Jayhawks keep rolling along. They’ll put their 10-0 SU and 9-0 ATS record to the test Saturday against Iowa State – although it should only be the ATS record that gets tested, despite the Cyclones’ two consecutive upsets over K-State and Colorado.

There’s even more chalk on the table when the Boise State Broncos host the Idaho Vandals. Idaho is one of the worst teams in the FBS at 1-9 SU (3-6 ATS), while BSU is taking care of business in the WAC at 9-1 SU (5-4 ATS). The Broncos have covered two fat spreads in a row against San Jose State and Utah State.

Want a little less exposure? Try Oregon at Arizona on Thursday night. The Ducks are title-worthy at 8-1 SU and ATS. Arizona’s starting to put it together, but there’s still a big talent gap waiting to be exploited.

Last week, the NCAA released its latest annual report on student-athlete graduation rates. And the numbers appear to be holding steady: 63 percent of NCAA student-athletes who entered school in 2000-01 went on to graduate. That’s the same figure as last year, and up from 60 percent in the 2004 report.

Looking across the board at all collegiate athletic organizations (including the NAIA), graduation rates are up from 58 percent three years ago to 62 percent. Not bad, but athletes aren’t “improving” at the same rate as the general student body, which saw its rate climb from 54 to 61 percent.

We use the ironic quotation marks for “improving” because we know a few things about statistics and what they may or may not mean. It’s easy these days to be jaded and assume that colleges are lowering their academic standards to make their graduation rates look better. Let’s see some reports on that before we rejoice.

Todd Lickliter made his coaching debut for Iowa last night in a bittersweet victory over Simpson College 56-30 at
Caver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa shot 19-of-47 from the field and committed 20 turnovers, but the bigger question after the game was about the status of junior guard Tony Freeman. Freeman, Iowa’s leading returning scorer from last season, limped off the floor in the first half with what appeared to be an injury to his left foot. Lickliter was uncertain about Freeman’s status Thursday night.

Justin Johnson led Iowa with 16 points. Freshman Jake Kelly came off the bench to score 10 points.
Iowa opens the season next Friday against Idaho State, coached by former Southeastern Community College coach Joe O’Brien.